The long haul: the effects of home care on caregivers

The effects and implications of caring for a spouse with a long-term physical or cognitive disability is a developing topic in the field of women's health. In the present study, women with longer caregiving experience had more physical health problems than did those with less time caregiving, while younger women found caregiving more psychologically burdensome than did older women. Nursing interventions must be directed toward preventing a decline in the caregiver's health and development of a second patient who herself needs a caregiver.